Renewal
by Little Miss Abrasive
Summary: Life is all about choices. Unfortunately, I made the wrong ones. If I wish to move on, I have to help someone else make the right ones. I have to guide this man, this Gilbert Beilschmidt, back onto the correct path for his life, before it's too late. Human AU, Major Character Death.


Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia: Axis Powers, and lay claim only to this story's plot.

* * *

He pushed the blade against his wrist harder and deeper, taking pleasure in the scarlet rivulets that flowed down his arms and fell onto the tile with a sickening plop. He was already growing dizzy, and he loved it, reveled in it even. After feeling nothing for so long, he would take anything he could get.

He was done with everything; life, people, and especially the gaping hole in his chest that left him feeling vacant and worthless. In his lifetime he had had never actually done anything for himself; now, for his final act, he would be selfish.

Finally, mercifully, his knees gave out and he fell to the kitchen floor, letting go of it all in those last few moments, sprawled out on the tile. And at last, everything went black.

But then it went white.

He blinked for a few moments, utterly baffled by his situation. His first thought was that he was in a hospital, but that was quickly ruled out due to the lack of a bed, nurses, or hell, even a building. For as far as he could see, it was just white. No ceiling, no walls, no floor; just white.

He glanced down at himself and was momentarily startled. Where his wrist had just moments prior been covered in his own blood was now a smooth expanse of skin, with not even a scar to prove that the ordeal had ever happened. Less startling, but perhaps more worrisome, was the fact that he was completely naked.

"Ahem."

He whirled around towards the unexpected voice. There was a large mahogany desk with intricate designs carved on it, and a man sitting behind it holding a clipboard in one hand while twirling his pen with the other. He was positive that neither the desk nor the man had been there a few seconds ago, but before he could ponder it further, the man spoke.

"Matthew Williams?" His voice was both gruff and melodic, both deep and high-pitched, and though strange, it instantly soothed him. Come to think of it, it was not only his voice that was unusual, even the man himself was a contradictory. He seemed to be both blonde and brunette, tall and short, and appeared to be absolutely ageless, for Matthew could not determine whether he was 20, or 40, or even 80.

"Hey. You Williams or not?"

Matthew snapped out of his reverie and quickly nodded. "Y-yes."

"Alright." The man grabbed his clipboard and flipped the page as he began to speak in the most bored tone that Matthew had ever heard. "Welcome to Assessment. Let's start by going over your-"

"Wait, w-what?" He interrupted. "Assessment?" He stood their, attempting to nonchalantly cover himself, hyper aware that he was completely naked in front of a veritable stranger.

The man sighed. "Yes, Assessment, the stage where we analyze your life to prepare you for Assignment."

"Assignment?"

"Yes, _Assignment. _Look kid, here's how it work. There are five stages in this process: Death, Assessment, Assignment, Reflection, and Renewal. You already handled that first stage on your own. Now it's my job to usher you along through the second. Now if we could just-"

"Hang on, what process am I in?" His elbows now rested on the man's desk, and he leaned against it heavily, his utter bafflement currently overruling his self-consciousness.

"The Afterlife process." The man replied, rubbing his temples. "Or, more specifically, the Wrong Path Branch." Matthew opened his mouth to interrupt again, but the man cut him off. "That means that you're in the process for people whose timelines were altered through bad decisions, and died before their time. And seeing as suicide rates are at an all time high, I've got a lot more people to see today, so can we just get this over with?"

Matthew nodded and the man continued. "Alright, according to your record, you veered off course for the first time at age 7 when you took the blame for breaking your mother's wedding china after your brother Alfred accidentally hit them with his baseball bat. And don't look so surprised, it usually starts early. Next was in the 5th grade when you let Carlos get away with stealing your history project and passing it off as his own. Finally, the correct path was permanently sealed shut when you said yes in freshman year and took the pills."

The man paused and looked up at Matthew. "Now's the appropriate time for questions."

Matthew suddenly found himself unable to form his queston, and the man chuckled at what Matthew assumed was either the irony of the situation, or the overwhelmed look on his face. It took a good five minutes of contemplation before he was ready to continue.

"I- I don't understand. How are any of those things relevant?"

"Simple. If you hadn't taken the blame for your brother's mistake, you would've never lost your mother's trust, and she would've never began favoring Alfred, which was the cause for your low self esteem. If you'd had a better self esteem, then you wouldn't have let Carlos walk all over you, and you would've been able to pass that class with flying colors. Instead you were labeled a failure, a label you carried onto high school. And, if you'd never been labeled a failure, then you wouldn't have become an addict and flunked out of high school."

The man shook his head. "If things had been different, you'd still be alive."

Matthew took a moment to process this before he spoke. "But, isn't my timeline set? Why didn't I take the right path?"

The man gave him a wry smile. "Free will kid. It's a bitch. We have to let you make your own decisions, even if they're the wrong ones." The man suddenly stopped and stared off into space for a moment, as if listening for something that only he could hear, before turning back to Matthew.

"Look's like our time is up, kid, so I'll make your Assignment quick. I figure the best option for you is to place you as a sort of guide for someone in the same situation as you were, someone who's took a wrong turn in life and has given up. It'll be your job to help them find their way before it's too late."

"... But what if I fail?"

"If you don't pass, then you can't move on and we'll have to start again." He shrugged. "I don't make the rules."

The man opened the desk drawer and pulled out a file, sliding it across the desk towards Matthew. "Here's your Assignment. This should tell you everything you need to know. When you're all done, just head through that door up ahead." The man pointed to a spot behind Matthew, and he turned around to see a large, cream colored door standing about ten feet away.

He turned around to thank the man, but both he and the desk were already gone.

Matthew sat down and glanced at the name on the file. "_Gilbert Beilschmidt._"

He opened the file and began to read.

* * *

A.N.- I apologize that this chapter is so dialogue heavy. If all goes well, this should be the only one like this.

Just a side-note as well, I made Matthew significantly less shy than canon dictates purposefully. He's supposed to before different than what he should have been like, and thus, while Gilbert will retain most of his identifying traits, he will be slightly different as well. This will probably make more sense to you later on.

I'd also like to let you know that this is currently un-beta'd, so if you're up for it, drop me a line. Updates'll probably be very irregular as well.

Have a great day!, -LMA


End file.
